ABSTRACT
Most of the characters of the Canterbury Tales abuse their freedom of will and willingly bind themselves to Fortune’s wheel, just as most of the plaintiffs in the House of Fame willingly submit to Fame’s rather similar vagaries. The most clearcut discussion of the problem of Fortune and free will is provided by the Man of Law’s Tale. The Knight’s Tale had stated the problem and had examined it and provided a solution in philosophical terms. The theme of Fortune is inevitably linked to that of free will, as far as Geoffrey Chaucer is concerned. The passage is a nice instance of the manner in which Chaucer suggests ideas clearly known to him, and, it is assumed, to his reader, through the modest confusion of a less percipient character. Chaucer borrows a detail from Le Jaloux’s speech and turns it to an opposite effect. Le Jaloux complains at length of his wife’s extravagance.
